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<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"></TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>1:34 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"></TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>30085.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Mar 14, 2010
'I kept saying I wanted to go home'
Korean soprano talks of unhappy night out with Romanian envoy whom she didn't know well
<!-- by line -->By Teh Joo Lin
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Madam Jeong met Dr Ionescu with her husband's full blessings, but did not expect to end up at a KTV lounge. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
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http://www.straitstimes.com/News/Home/Story/STIStory_501931.html
Korean soprano Jeong Ae Ree became linked to former diplomat Silviu Ionescu when closed-circuit television footage replayed at the recent inquest into Mr Tong Kok Wai's death raised questions about their relationship.
In one shot, Dr Ionescu's arm was draped around her shoulder at the Shangri-La Hotel on Dec 14 last year. In another, the two, both married, linked arms as they walked towards a KTV lounge in Selegie.
However, there was nothing scandalous about the Dec 14 outing, the 41-year-old singing teacher told The Sunday Times yesterday.
She had met the then Romanian diplomat that night with the full blessings of her husband of 13 years, Singapore Symphony Orchestra cellist Chan Wei Shing. The couple have an eight-year-old daughter.
Mr Chan, a Singaporean, was by her side during the interview at their Hillcrest Arcadia condominium home off Adam Road. Madam Jeong, who teaches privately and at the School of the Arts, said she had shown her husband the SMS the Romanian had sent her before she met Dr Ionescu.
The then charge d'affaires of the Romanian embassy had invited her to a function at the Shangri-La Hotel commemorating Kazakhstan's national day.
Madam Jeong said her husband thought she should go because it was a good opportunity to drum up some support for her upcoming concert recital, Birds Of Paradise.
The function turned out to be 'very official', she said. Dr Ionescu introduced her to several other diplomats and she met many people that night.
When he put his arm around her shoulders, or linked arms with her, there was nothing to it. He was just being the 'European gentleman', she thought.
'It's not an issue. I studied in Europe, where it's very normal to be kissing and hugging when you are meeting friends,' she said.
The evening turned out to be a nightmare she would rather forget.
Her outing with Dr Ionescu that night was the reason she appeared as a witness during the six-day inquest.
Mr Tong, 30, was hit by the embassy's Audi A6 car along Bukit Panjang Road at about 3.10am on Dec 15. Police investigations showed that Dr Ionescu was behind the wheel.
But the details of the night out thrust her into a different kind of limelight.
As a performer, she was used to being the centre of attention, but the camera footage led many to speculate on their relationship.
'When I read all the comments (online), some of them were shocking. For a few days, I was very depressed. All I did was to help the police do their job and anyone who can think properly would have done the same. But I never thought people would react the way they did on the Internet,' she said.
Moreover, the video clips showed only certain snippets of the time out, she added.
Madam Jeong's first introduction to Dr Ionescu had been innocent enough.
They met on Dec 5 at a concert at the Esplanade Recital Studio where she had turned up to watch her students perform.
Dr Ionescu sat one seat away from her.
'He didn't have the programme notes because he came a bit late. That's how he started talking to me,' she said.
He introduced himself as the head of the Romanian Embassy here, passed her his namecard and asked for her number, so he could invite her to the Romanian National Day celebrations.
She thought nothing of this because she had been invited to 'many other National Day celebrations'.
She eventually declined, but he went on to invite her to another function before she accepted his third invitation to go to the event at the Shangri-La Hotel.
While she found him 'polite' and 'gentlemanly' at first, she would become furious by the end of the night.
At the hotel, Dr Ionescu invited her to a birthday party but instead drove her to Clarke Quay.
'I didn't know we were going there for drinks. I thought that was where the birthday party was, but there was no one there celebrating a birthday,' she said.
By the time they left for Legend Palace KTV in Peace Centre in Selegie, it was around midnight.
The moment they arrived at the carpark, she felt 'uneasy', she said. 'I didn't know where this place was, the carpark looked very old, a bit scary. I didn't like the feeling. Even the lift was kind of scary. I was a bit worried actually, because I didn't know him well.'
The KTV lounge was also not quite the family-oriented outlet she had in mind. Groups of young, beautiful and sexily dressed women trooped in and out of the room they were in, parading themselves in front of about 10 men.
When she asked Dr Ionescu what the women were up to, all he told her was: 'You don't know the real world.'
Recalling this, she said: 'I've been living like this for more than 40 years and I've been fine. If this is the real world, I don't need to know.'
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'I kept saying I wanted to go home'
Korean soprano talks of unhappy night out with Romanian envoy whom she didn't know well
<!-- by line -->By Teh Joo Lin
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
http://www.straitstimes.com/News/Home/Story/STIStory_501931.html
Korean soprano Jeong Ae Ree became linked to former diplomat Silviu Ionescu when closed-circuit television footage replayed at the recent inquest into Mr Tong Kok Wai's death raised questions about their relationship.
In one shot, Dr Ionescu's arm was draped around her shoulder at the Shangri-La Hotel on Dec 14 last year. In another, the two, both married, linked arms as they walked towards a KTV lounge in Selegie.
However, there was nothing scandalous about the Dec 14 outing, the 41-year-old singing teacher told The Sunday Times yesterday.
She had met the then Romanian diplomat that night with the full blessings of her husband of 13 years, Singapore Symphony Orchestra cellist Chan Wei Shing. The couple have an eight-year-old daughter.
Mr Chan, a Singaporean, was by her side during the interview at their Hillcrest Arcadia condominium home off Adam Road. Madam Jeong, who teaches privately and at the School of the Arts, said she had shown her husband the SMS the Romanian had sent her before she met Dr Ionescu.
The then charge d'affaires of the Romanian embassy had invited her to a function at the Shangri-La Hotel commemorating Kazakhstan's national day.
Madam Jeong said her husband thought she should go because it was a good opportunity to drum up some support for her upcoming concert recital, Birds Of Paradise.
The function turned out to be 'very official', she said. Dr Ionescu introduced her to several other diplomats and she met many people that night.
When he put his arm around her shoulders, or linked arms with her, there was nothing to it. He was just being the 'European gentleman', she thought.
'It's not an issue. I studied in Europe, where it's very normal to be kissing and hugging when you are meeting friends,' she said.
The evening turned out to be a nightmare she would rather forget.
Her outing with Dr Ionescu that night was the reason she appeared as a witness during the six-day inquest.
Mr Tong, 30, was hit by the embassy's Audi A6 car along Bukit Panjang Road at about 3.10am on Dec 15. Police investigations showed that Dr Ionescu was behind the wheel.
But the details of the night out thrust her into a different kind of limelight.
As a performer, she was used to being the centre of attention, but the camera footage led many to speculate on their relationship.
'When I read all the comments (online), some of them were shocking. For a few days, I was very depressed. All I did was to help the police do their job and anyone who can think properly would have done the same. But I never thought people would react the way they did on the Internet,' she said.
Moreover, the video clips showed only certain snippets of the time out, she added.
Madam Jeong's first introduction to Dr Ionescu had been innocent enough.
They met on Dec 5 at a concert at the Esplanade Recital Studio where she had turned up to watch her students perform.
Dr Ionescu sat one seat away from her.
'He didn't have the programme notes because he came a bit late. That's how he started talking to me,' she said.
He introduced himself as the head of the Romanian Embassy here, passed her his namecard and asked for her number, so he could invite her to the Romanian National Day celebrations.
She thought nothing of this because she had been invited to 'many other National Day celebrations'.
She eventually declined, but he went on to invite her to another function before she accepted his third invitation to go to the event at the Shangri-La Hotel.
While she found him 'polite' and 'gentlemanly' at first, she would become furious by the end of the night.
At the hotel, Dr Ionescu invited her to a birthday party but instead drove her to Clarke Quay.
'I didn't know we were going there for drinks. I thought that was where the birthday party was, but there was no one there celebrating a birthday,' she said.
By the time they left for Legend Palace KTV in Peace Centre in Selegie, it was around midnight.
The moment they arrived at the carpark, she felt 'uneasy', she said. 'I didn't know where this place was, the carpark looked very old, a bit scary. I didn't like the feeling. Even the lift was kind of scary. I was a bit worried actually, because I didn't know him well.'
The KTV lounge was also not quite the family-oriented outlet she had in mind. Groups of young, beautiful and sexily dressed women trooped in and out of the room they were in, parading themselves in front of about 10 men.
When she asked Dr Ionescu what the women were up to, all he told her was: 'You don't know the real world.'
Recalling this, she said: 'I've been living like this for more than 40 years and I've been fine. If this is the real world, I don't need to know.'
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